It is remarkable that the Dasyures should have the bones of the leg, the tibia and fibula, so connected together as to allow of a certain degree of rotation on each other, after the fashion of the fore-arm bones. The muscles of the leg are modified for the purpose. This interesting anatomical point recalls one of the great distinctions between the fixed leg bones of man and those of the hand-footed Ape. It is not found, however, in the non-Marsupial mammals, whose habits of life are simulated by the Dasyure; but it is found in the Wombat, a burrower, and in the Koala, Phalangers, and Opossums, which are climbers. In examining the stomachs of the Marsupials, Owen noticed that differences in food and habit are not met by alteration in the shape of the organ, as they are in the higher Mammalia. Thus, the common Dasyure, the insectivorous Bandicoot, and the leaf-eating Phalangers, have a full round, oval, or sub-triangular-shaped stomach, with the right extremity projecting beyond and below the pylorus. The length of the stomach seldom exceeds the height by more than one-third. No cæcum is found in the carnivorous Marsupial, and the intestine is short and wide, being continued, like the intestine of a reptile, along the margin of a single and simple mesentery, from the pylorus to the rectum (Owen). The liver has a gall-bladder in the Dasyure, and there is a pancreas as well as a spleen. The heart is contained in a slight pericardium, as in the other Mammalia. The Ursine Dasyure is found in Van Diemen’s Land only. There are several kinds of Dasyure, which have been carefully noticed and described. One is called the Long-tailed or Spotted Dasyure,[118] and is about the size of a Cat. The fur is reddish-brown, pencilled with yellow, and is spotted with white both on the body and on the tail. It has a tail as long as the head and body together, and the under parts of the body and the fore-legs and feet are of a dirty yellow tinge. It lives in Van Diemen’s Land, and was, from its shape, at first called a Marten. The teats are six in number, three on each side, and seated within a slight fold only of the skin, so that there is no true pouch. [Illustration: UPPER (A) AND UNDER (B) VIEW OF SKULL OF DASYURE.] MAUGE’S DASYURE.[119]